Mary says she struggled with nightmares and "attacks of sadness".

She returned to counselling which really helped her cope with her guilt and process her "feelings and responses to the bomb".

She says the process of getting compensation was "challenging" .

Mary says she once "flipped out" when she saw a bag unattended in public and "thought it was a bomb".

She says she met her husband in Australia.

She says he was "the first male" to see her scarred leg.

She says her husband Paul was exposed to her panic attacks when she was in crowds or when uncomfortable.

Mary then travelled to Australia in June 1999, which had been her plan from the previous year.

"It was great to be getting away and doing what I had planned."

She stayed in Australia for six months, returning in December 1999 to take up a teaching position.

She says through hard work she got her masters and that her parents were "super proud".

Mary stayed on campus to study with a new year of students and she says "no one knew of my past which was great".

Her master's supervisor was "very supportive", she adds.

She says in the new year she returned to her studies.

She did so with the "push and support" of her mother.

Mary says her mum was "relentless" in getting her back to the life she had wanted before the bomb.

Mary says there is "a fine line between sadness and happiness to be alive".

She says it took "months to get back into reality".

She says she behaved the way people excepted.

She says people were kind but she felt pity from them

Mary tried counselling but says it didn't work in the few weeks she attended.

"To be honest, I felt they were not trained adequately on trauma and they were asking me about my family and childhood."

She said that she was "delighted to get home from the hospital", but says she didn't feel herself.

She says everyone was worried but that guilt was still festering inside her.

The guilt "played on" Mary for years, she says, but she now manages it "mostly".

She says that as time went on she started to feel "guilt".

"Why did I survive?"

Communication with the injured has been poor, Mary says, questioning if it is because she lives in Australia now.

She says Mo Mowlam, Prince Charles, and Ronnie Flanagan all came to visit her in the hospital as well as "some celebrities".

She says they wished her well and promised those responsible would be found and held accountable.

"This has never happened," she says.

By the Monday, Mary's wound wasn't healing and was infected.

The next day she had surgery to clean the wound and for the next five days it was continuously cleaned.

"It was extremely nauseating seeing the many layers of my skin and just the big hole, about 15cm wide and 10cm deep."

"The hours and the days ahead were just trying to comprehend what had happened," she says.

She says she heard the stories of so many people.

Mary says that people were still "in shock" as they continued to hear the news and the death toll rising.

She says the bits of metal "continue crawling out of my skin for up to 20 years".

She says it's amazing how they sit under the skin and over time make it to the surface.